


what if i worked at a bookshop and you came to visit me and i could doodle little hearts on your receipt? jk jk.....unless?

by fuckeliasbouchard



Category: The Half of It (2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Aster is bisexual, Bookstores, F/F, Fluff, Light Angst, Paul is bisexual, Secondhand Bookstore AU, basically everyone is gay, ellie is a useless lesbian
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:01:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24286282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuckeliasbouchard/pseuds/fuckeliasbouchard
Summary: Basically this is an AU where there was no relationship between Paul and Aster in the first place, Ellie works in a secondhand bookshop and Paul and Ellie were already friends.
Relationships: Ellie Chu & Paul Munsky, Ellie Chu/Aster Flores
Comments: 17
Kudos: 98





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while since I wrote fanfiction...anyway I hope I finish this story.

Ellie Chu sits behind the counter on a stool, idly watching the world go by through display windows. She is technically working, except no one really comes into the shop Wednesday afternoons. Only a few people would be coming in now - a mother and toddler, for example, here to look at pre-loved picture books, or a regular who checks on the crime fiction shelf everyday just to see if there has been any new additions. To be honest, there probably hasn't been - after a while people keep donating the same sort of thing. There's only so many Peter James books that have been published. 

Ellie has a book on her lap but the only evidence that she was reading it is her thumb trapped in the middle, saving the page for nothing in particular. It's not like she doesn't like the story (a true story about a romance between two women set in 1840s England), it's just that it's hard to be fully engrossed when your mind is somewhere else.

Ellie finds that this happens a lot of the time now but she's not really sure as to why. Maybe she has too many things to juggle at the moment - the "things" being her essay-writing service that her classmates often rely on to impress their parents with. Or maybe it's because she still can't find a decent piece to play for the upcoming concert, despite her piano teacher trying to make her learn Beethoven which only makes her groan because his pieces are just way too long. And when it comes to learning other pieces, her mind just goes blank and she keeps returning to a shitty original song she wrote on the guitar a few months back which is only a minute long. Or maybe it's because she still gets called "Chu-Chu" by some idiots in her class everyday as she cycles to school, a nickname that's stuck ever since 7th grade when people learnt what her and her dad did for a living - maybe she'll never be taken seriously in her life and maybe that's why --

Stop, Ellie, stop. Stop spiralling. Stop overthinking. You need to learn how to shut off your brain. But what if --

"Ellie?" Shit. How long had this person been calling her name before she realised? 

"Sorry, I was...I was daydreaming," she mutters, knowing full well that she definitely wasn't.

"There are a lot of books upstairs that need to be priced - I'll take over the till while you go do that, mkay?"

"Oh, yeah sure, that's fine," Ellie says, scrambling to get all of her stuff together and walking upstairs as fast as she can without dropping anything.

Okay, so now she's in the back room. Ellie has mixed views on this room - on the one hand, it's a nice place to get away from any human interaction because customers aren't allowed upstairs. You can just get on with your job and no one notices you, whereas on the till you have to smile and ask how their afternoon is and be polite and frankly that's a lot to ask for in her opinion. But on the other hand, the tasks she has to do slowly become monotonous over time and there is nothing to get distracted by. There aren't even any windows, just piles upon piles of books. If she moves one step the wrong way, that could mean everything falling on top of each other.

Pricing books. Right. It's an easy job because they're already put into categories of which book costs what, so all she has to do is adjust the pricing gun and stamp. But for some reason they're all...sci-fi?? Ellie wonders who from Squahamish donated these. This is a game that she likes to play, but rarely ever solves. They're pretty worn down, with dog-eared corners and their latest publishing dates are 1980. So, definitely not someone from high school. It would make sense if it was a person doing a huge cleanout of their house and finding all their childhood books again, but they would have to be at least 50. A high-schooler’s parent perhaps? Or maybe someone who inherited them but didn’t really have any use for them. There are so many possibilities.

Soon Ellie has run out of books to price and now faces the difficult task of somehow transporting them all downstairs. The book lift had stopped working for a few weeks now, and the stairs were really steep, so doing this would require a lot of concentration and good balance. Both of which Ellie doesn’t have. Damn. Arms full of Isaac Asimov novels, Ellie carefully takes things a step at a time. She can hear something happening downstairs but that’s not going to distract her. Okay, two more steps to go until she’s on solid ground again. One more step. Almost there. 

Someone is staring at her. Ellie squints back because her glasses are slightly askew from the piles of books. Then she realises who it is - goes to take a step forward to say hello - oh shit shit shit shit shit shit --

There’s a heavy thunk as all the books simultaneously land on Ellie’s right toe. She can’t speak. She can’t move. There are now books all around her feet and all she can do is turn red and watch her glasses steam up.


	2. Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> awkward conversations :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay new chapter!

“Hey, let me help you with those books.”

"Oh - uh - right sorry -" Ellie doesn't really know what to say, she wants to do something but she's frozen to the spot -

Pick up the books, Ellie. They are spread out everywhere, pages now folded where they shouldn't be. She bends down slowly to start lifting them off the ground and catches herself staring at the person who is helping her.

Aster Flores. She’s a senior like Ellie, mostly known for her looks rather than anything else. Ellie had seen her around the school - in the choir for example - but had never really talked to her. That was way too frightening. What do you say to someone that beautiful? How do you start a conversation? Paul had been tormenting Ellie for the last few weeks about her obvious crush and was literally begging her to go talk to her, but she refused. Well, now she has to speak to her. Fuck.

“I’m Ellie Chu -” she stammers as she frantically tries to gather all of her books together. 

“Yeah, I know.” 

“I - I think I have all the books now, thanks,” Ellie says, wanting to sprint upstairs again and bury her face in her hands.

“So, you like Foundation?” Aster is looking at the books she’s holding. 

“No! No, uh, this is just a donation by someone else,” she says while trying to walk as fast as she can to the science fiction shelf. “I have no idea who, though.”

“I didn’t know you worked here?” Apparently Aster still wants to make conversation. Damn. Ellie had thought she had wriggled out of that one.

“Yeah, but - only on Wednesday afternoons -” she says between grunts of trying to cram the books onto one tiny shelf. 

“Oh okay, I’ll remember that for next time.”

Suddenly Ellie’s head shoots up. “Wait, what do you mean, next time?”

“You know, next time I’ll come into the shop. I do read books, y’know,” Aster says jokingly .

“Oh - yeah - sorry -” Ellie has run out of books to put on the shelf and also has run out of conversation. “I need to go up” - she gestures with her head to the direction of the door.

Aster doesn’t say anything but smiles, genuinely. Ellie wishes she could take a photo of this moment and keep it printed above her bed. She smiles tentatively back and then rushes back upstairs, breathing heavily. What just happened?

**Author's Note:**

> heheheheheheheh


End file.
